News update:
Hanover’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 on Tuesday night to change the names and mascots of two schools in the county named after the confederacy.
Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School will now have new names. The process for deciding on the new names will now enter a public input phase, but the decision will ultimately be up to the school board to change.
The members of the board heard an hour of public input, with the majority of comments in support of changing the names.
“Their actions have made their names and images enduring symbols of the enslavement of Black Americans,” said board member Sterling Daniel. “Later generations made choices to reinforce this narrative,”
Richmond Public Schools will be completely virtual for at least the first half of the 2020-2021 school year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The school board decided so on Tuesday night with an 8-1 vote.
4th district representative Jonathan Young was the lone holdout and said there was no way he was going to vote for a plan with no in school instruction.
The Board was provided with five options – eventually decided on option E.
Plan A
- A fully virtual option, also including a hybrid option with 2 days of in-person instruction and 3 days of virtual instruction each week and an option for 5 days of in-person instruction each week for students with greater academic needs (e.g., certain students with IEPs and certain English Learners)
Plan B
- A fully virtual option or a fully in-person option
Plan C
- A fully in-person option for elementary students, a fully virtual option for elementary students, or only a fully virtual option for middle school and secondary students
Plan D
- A fully in-person option for certain high-need students or only a fully virtual option for everyone else
Plan E
- Only a complete virtual option for the first semester
As of right now, the students could still possibly be back in school on February 8th to start the second semester. Only time and virus trends will tell.